I like to get things right. One of my favourite sayings is “if you are going to do something, do it well”. My walk with The Lord is no different – I want to get it right. Not because I strive or because I have any delusion that I have anything to give in exchange for the favour of God, but because I understand that before I was even born, God had a plan for my life.
When we truly grasp what Jesus had done for us at the cross, how He gave Himself to bring us into right relationship with the Father our perspective change. It is only when we grasp the incredible impact of Jesus’ death and the implications for us, that we can begin to see the bigger picture. Jesus’ life on earth was never about Himself, and our lives are not about ourselves.
When we begin to understand the heart of the Father, how we existed in His imagination long before we ever saw the light of day, we begin to see that we live for something and Someone far bigger than ourselves. Even the most self-centred, narcissistic person could not love themselves as much as the Father loves us and the Word of God tells us that that we cannot even imagine what the Lord has planned for us. 1 Corinthians 2: 9 says: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind have conceived, the things God has prepared for those who love Him.”
Psalm 139 is a wonderful Psalm. It tells us that we were fearfully and wonderfully made. Fearfully means with great respect – The Lord fashioned us with utmost respect and He planned every day before we were even born, because we were all created with and for a purpose. Yet we place little value on our days. We waste hours, days, even years of our lives, going after things that will never bring us any closer to being who and what we were created to be. I realised that this was true for myself and I started to on a journey to find out what it was that The Lord has imagined when He created me – a journey more frightening and more rewarding than any I have ever been on. What an adventure we go on when we surrender to The Lord’s plan for our lives and how wonderful as His plan starts to unfold before us!
The Word of God is an amazing map – it leads us step by step and gives us clue after clue as we read it with Holy Spirit as our guide. We never really arrive – we simply go from glory to glory, as Jesus promised us. So I find myself again, asking The Lord “where to from here”, and “what do You need me to do next Lord?” My spiritman is always whispering to me to go deeper, search higher and before long I find myself working in my own strength, because I really want to please my Father.
In times like these, where I am so aware of my humanity and how far I fall short of the glory of God, when I really want to know what He requires of me, He reminds me of Micah 6: 6 to 8
“What can we bring to The Lord? What kind of offering should we give Him? Should we bow before Him with offerings of yearling calves? Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins? No, o People, The Lord has told you what is good, and this is what He requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Our Father does not require expensive gifts, huge sacrifice or hard labour. He simply wants us to love what He loves – righteousness and mercy and He wants to walk with us, in a love relationship. He wants us to come into agreement with Him – that’s what it means to be humble. He is saying “I am holy, you be holy, I love mercy, you extend mercy, I am your Father and I want to walk with you daily and we respond “You are my father and I will walk with You. How beautifully simple.
When we respond to Him in this way, He takes us with Him as He goes about His business – reconciling a broken and lost world to Himself. He takes us on one amazing journey after another, and He allows us to experience His love and His grace and His blessing as we work alongside Him.
How wonderfully easy it is to just follow Him, as He leads us on on by His Spirit. Let us make up our minds to do what is right, to show mercy and walk humbly with our God.